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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Cat language

Does your cat meow? Mine don’t.
None of them. They each produce a
sound that is supposed to pass for a meow, but doesn’t even come close.

We’ll start with the
youngest, Gabriel. Not only was he not
paying attention when his mother gave him speech lessons, he wasn’t even in the
room. When he opens his cute little
mouth he says “mee”. Sometimes it’s short,
sometimes he stretches out the “meeeeeee” like he’s singing a song.
It sounds so sad, so utterly pitiful.
Whether he’s crying for food, to get a head rub or to be let into the
bathroom, his mournful plea cannot be ignored.

Next up, Mickey, another
one who never learned how to speak cat language properly. He doesn’t even try. When Mickey tries to say something he doesn’t
get any further than “Eh” or “Ei”. It’s
quite cute, but completely useless. Not
that he’s much of a talker to begin with, he only makes an effort when he wants
to play with his laser light. Once play
is over, that’s it for the talking.
He might make an effort to get into the bathroom, but Mick prefers to scratch
the door.

Then there’s
Charlotte. Charlotte has a deep, raspy
voice, making her meow sounds like “meih”.
Her cry reminds me of a shy old sheep. Charlotte knows how to purr though, something
Gabriel nor Mickey have quite mastered.
Oh they purr, but very, very softly.
Charlotte on the other hand has quite an engine.

Last but not least,
Chanel. Chanel is the talker of the
family. She has a whole repertoire of sounds but a proper “meow” isn’t one of
them. Whenever we talk to her, she
politely answers, ranging from “mei”, “meei”, “eeeeh” to “mooow”. Most comical is when she says “now”. When we ask her “When do you want your food?”
she replies with “now”. When asked again
“Do you want your food now?” she’ll confirm that she wants it now.

As for purring … nobody
purrs like Chanel. Whoever she curls up
with in bed can forget about sleeping.
She purr so enthusiastically that she sounds like a low flying
helicopter.

Cat language … not the
easiest language to understand, yet Gabriel, Mickey, Charlotte and Chanel seem
to have no problem understanding me.

4 comments:

LOL, Zebrina had quite a vocabulary but she would only talk with Tom. He'd say: "Where do you want to go?" She'd replied, "Me-out" "And what do you want out there?""me-ouse" and sometimes, "Me-ole"It was uncanny! LOL

My husband and I have 3 cats; 2 that he already had and 1 that I brought with me. His 2 are rescued strays he found near where he used to live and mine my grandmother rescued from an animal control shelter she worked part-time for and, ultimately gave to me. They are quite a trio of characters and all have mastered cat-speak....all to well actually. :)